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GamerSushi Asks: The End of AAA?

In my eyes, Assassin’s Creed is one of the more notable examples of why publishers shouldn’t be afraid to take great risks on a new franchise. It was an IP that nobody had ever experienced, and now it’s one of the powerhouse releases each year, right alongside Call of Duty and Halo. Anybody that has concerns about whether or not new franchises can enter the scene with the other AAA giants need look no further than Altair, Ezio and their ilk.

But is AAA going to be as big of a factor in the next generation as it has been for the current one? Assassin’s Creed 3 Creative Director Alex Hutchinson doesn’t think so. Because of free to play, the rising costs of AAA development and more, Alex joins the ranks of other people that feel that at some point, there will be a change. Only Alex thinks this is coming rather soon. A quote, from the latest issue of Edge.

We’re the last of the dinosaurs. We’re still the monster triple-A game with very large teams [and] multiple studios helping out on different bits. There are fewer and fewer of these games being made, especially as the middle has fallen out.

So, Alex thinks that AAA games are going the way of the buffalo so quickly that Assassin’s Creed 3 will be one of the last? While I agree that at some point the industry is going to have to change to get in line with the expectations of the consumer, I think this is reaching just a bit. If anything, AAA games are bigger now than ever, and only seem to be ramping up at the moment.

I think sometime in the next gen, we’ll see that fizzle out some, but definitely not on the timetable that Hutchison predicts. What do you guys think? Are we looking down the barrel at the end of AAA games? Do you think the industry will change at all? When? Go!

3 thoughts on “GamerSushi Asks: The End of AAA?”

I agree with you, Eddy. There are already fewer and fewer triple A titles and there will be less as time goes on, but there will still be big blockbuster games that people clamor for.

Ubisoft also has 7 studios that work on Assassin’s Creed in order to make their yearly release. I don’t think Bungie or 343 or Naughty Dog or Bioware have the same issues because they don’t choose to make their franchises annual. Ubisoft chose to do that, so comparing themselves to the other studios, who don’t require as many resources to make one game isn’t exactly an apples to apples comparision.

I think so too. I am already surprised every time I sign into Steam and see how many of the new releases are small indie games instead of AAA titles. What’s great about them is they are so cheap, you can’t even help but spend the 6.99 to see how the game is.

I think we are in the middle of AAA really low risk period because it’s the end of the console generation. At this point in the cycle, consumers are not in the mood to try things or make a leap of faith. Take a look at almost everyone one of today’s most popular AAA games and you’ll see that most of them saw their first iteration released in the 2005-2008 window. Dead Space, Uncharted, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, etc. were all in that window. Back then most people were just getting their consoles, and were willing to look at games they have never heard of because they were quick to grab games for their brand new shiny console they bought. In short, just wait it out, and for God’s sake someone release the new consoles soon.